


Kumquat

by SerArthurHeath



Series: Azalea [2]
Category: citrus - サブロウタ | citrus - Saburouta
Genre: Angst, F/F, Fluff, Lemon, Lesbian Sex, Medical Trauma, Pregnancy, Pregnant Sex
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-23
Updated: 2021-02-25
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:02:04
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,880
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27164944
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SerArthurHeath/pseuds/SerArthurHeath
Summary: Mei and Yuzu have been happily married for 5 years.However, both now graduated and successful and very much in love, things are going to change forever!
Relationships: Aihara Mei/Aihara Yuzu
Series: Azalea [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1678648
Comments: 8
Kudos: 71





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a follow up fic, with a specific focus, to Azalea; when Mei and Yuzu are married for 5 years.
> 
> I'll update and add more tags once this has been up for a while and the (mild) surprise isn't necessary any more!
> 
> Update: yep, the happy couple are pregnant and this is going to be a mostly angst free and sex-containing fluffy exploration of that!

Was it only 5 years ago? How quickly time flies. 

Mei put down the photo of their wedding day. Still the happiest day of her life, though the next half decade had given it plenty of competition. If all went well in a few weeks, they'd likely have something that at least tied it for first place. Yuzu would be up soon, and as things currently were, on a weekend that meant Mei got up to make breakfast now. Yuzu's body needed its rest, focussed on a task so important that Mei's mind could scarcely fathom it. 

She still had a little time to reminisce though. Not the longing recollection of nostalgia, where sweet memory contaminated a blander present with bitterness. No, this was a dish to savour but hadn't lost its magic. Maybe every day wasn't as happy as their wedding day, the knife of pure joy stabbing her frozen heart when she saw her love more beautiful than ever, a manifestation of exuberance and optimism all draped in white, when Yuzu said "I do", when they kissed, and all their loved ones cheered them. But day by day Mei was happier than she'd ever been. Life meant something with Yuzu, even when it stood still, and it wasn't standing still now. Had rarely done so, in fact. 

On their honeymoon to Europe, a luxuriant spending of their earned and granted money that took advantage of a once in a lifetime opportunity and celebration and lashed back at the restrictions they'd all suffered under that infamous COVID pandemic, they had gotten to know each other better than ever before, with no pressure or disheartenment - Mei had learnt that love was an everlasting journey of discovery, that you always learnt something new about your love, the one you loved and their love, and yourself. Nobody knew themselves nevermind another human entirely, right up to the moment of their death. Maybe if we do fully know ourselves, we just end? Is that Nirvana? Mei had once mused. She didn't know. Buddhism was interesting but her philosophy stood elsewhere, and trying not to be moved emotionally by the world had almost broken her. Maybe it had, and Yuzu had done more than just heal wounds but had returned her to life?

Either way, with no fear they had learnt little things about each other every day, especially what they were like in pure, lazy leisure (and the pleasure of a hundred perfect new meals that Yuzu jotted down in her notebook in a way Mei found adorable, planning to try every one once they returned, and managing most). In-between visiting the great cities of Western History, the Louvre, Disneyland Paris, St Peter's Basílica, the vibrant Portuguese coast, everywhere in their month long trip between University years, they had learnt even more about each other's bodies too, a subject Mei was once, naively, sure they had exhausted. They'd made love on a beach in more than one country, in several self-proclaimed "Cities of Lovers", in public, well almost, once. On the sea. They'd tried many new things, with almost any you but never another person - Mei had no interest in any human ever but Yuzu, who had respected it so much, touching her body. Mei had handed Yuzu back the reins in the city their sexual journey had taken off, in London after a different musical, and found she enjoyed the other way round though remained more comfortable taking the lead. That was down to a mental issue she'd never fully recover from, she thought, but in the right mood it was thrilling to let Yuzu tie her up and have her way with her, especially the gleeful look of badly faked sternness her wife adopted. 

Her wife. That word would never sound old, and never sound less than wonderful.

When they had returned, so had their studies, but everything seemed easier when they were bound together. They'd graduated with honours and contacts and started work, Mei in education, running a business on the side, to prepare her for understanding that aspect of the school she was due to take over(now had done). Yuzu made clothing designs and was successful enough, Mei's heart bursting with pride when she came back grinning from her very soul and announcing that she had sold her first line. 

Jiji remained their dearest pet, now an adult cat and still the only man allowed in their bedroom. Yuzu mastered cooking to an even greater degree, not formally but enough that her visiting friend, Nakano Miku, who was a chef, blew her away with her praise and offered her a place working with her if she ever opened a restaurant in the future. She now had a small place of her own with rave reviews in Osaka, but Yuzu wasn't ready to delve into the consuming world of catering yet, as much as it tempted her. Mei continued to read and started to write internet essays that had a strong following. Finally she had taken over the school, but continued to learn to teach, seeing no reason she couldn't run it and teach there once she felt she was good enough. 

They saw their schoolfriends, and their new University ones, when they could, rare opportunities that were filled with mirth and care. Himeko and Sara remained two of the most important people in Mei's life and Harumin and all in Yuzu's. They also had visits from less close friends with whom they'd grown closer, like the Nakano's. One of them had married the boy they'd been resting from squabbling over when they'd met on the beach 5 years ago, but all 5 were happy, with two working as successful chefs, one a personal trainer, one a fairly well known actress and one a teacher who Mei happened to share a placement with. Itsuki was incredibly driven, stubborn and hated being patronised by men. She and Mei had formed an instant bond. 

Their relationship with all their family, even Mifuyu, was stronger than ever. Their relationship with each other was diamond, having little fights but learning from them, learning to love new things together, running together and cooking together as Mei grew in confidence there. 

They found new ways to express a love that still shocked Mei with the depth with which she could feel it without burning up. On big occasions like anniversaries with meaningful gifts like knitting classes together or trekking up Mount Fuji to watch a meteor shower, but also day to day.

Their sex only got better too, even now when Yuzu seemed least confident in her own body (equally as beautiful as ever in Mei's, oft verbalised, view or maybe even more so) and yet more aroused and hungry for intimacy than ever. 

And then, amazingly, one day they had decided together that their hearts, their love was wide enough for one more.

As she smiled, thinking about far they had come, Mei cooked the fluffy pancakes Yuzu loved so much. Some days it felt like her love was infinite when Yuzu was involved, even when they were upset or angry with each other that truth always centered them. She poured the tea - mint for both of them, obviously for Yuzu but Mei had given up caffeine too in solidarity. Milk and juice on the side, that was important. She took the black pudding, a taste acquired on their honeymoon in Britain and now sometimes craved by her wife, off the heat, and the poached eggs were perfect. 

A large breakfast but a perfect one. Besides, weekends were a treat and Yuzu needed to eat enough. 

She turned as she heard the footsteps that pattered with her heart, and smiled, something that seemed so naturally these days, as the love of her life strolled down the stairs. Well, walked anyway. 

She was as every bit as gorgeous as she had been on their wedding. Breathtaking with her face glowing as brightly as her shining emerald eyes and glossy hair, her cultivated curls natural on her, the image fixed in Mei's mind forever when she thought "Yuzu". Body still amazing Mei in a loose kimono despite all its changes.

Yuzu smiled back. "Thanks my darling. It looks great!"

As she served it up, Mei took a moment to kiss her wife, before placing a second one on their future. A devoted peck on that beautiful bump. 

"You're welcome. Both of you. Now eat up, I've got a full day of pampering for my two special girls"


	2. Chapter 2

It had been a good day. They'd been for a walk and had a light lunch out, of Shokupan with jam. They'd taken their time with everything - Mei had learnt to savour these days together and not to rush, and Yuzu got tired more easily and her muscles ached more quickly than before.

"That's what they don't tell you about pregnancy, Mei-Chan." Yuzu had said over lunch as she drank her water. "The sickness, the pains, everyone talks about those, but nobody warns you how tired you get and from how early."

Mei had frowned and asked whether that was due to impeded sleep: certainly Yuzu's seemed more disrupted, and she could understand why with the baby inside pushing up into her lungs. But her wife frowned. "I'm not sure. It happened long before she got big or started kicking. I think it's just that I'm supplying all her energy too. For growing, I guess."

Pregnancy seemed hard, and every day Mei was astounded and impressed at how her wife handled it. Maybe next time it'll be me. She had only really thought about being pregnant since seeing Yuzu change with pregnancy, though they had talked about the possibility several times. Yuzu had asked to be the first though, and it had made sense on a number of fronts. 

I wonder what it feels like? She had asked Yuzu but it seemed hard to explain. Something growing and moving inside you, all the physical changes, yes, she could grasp a little of that. But the knowledge that you had the capacity for life there? Yuzu said she couldn't have envisaged it before it happened. Such things are a paradigm shift, I guess. Only understandable once you've experienced them. 

"How are you, my love?" Yuzu tilted her face sideways and up, looking at her from her position lying at an angle (flat seemed increasingly uncomfortable for her now) with her head on a pillow on her lap. "Honestly? Sore. Especially my back, my pelvis and my feet. But good. Happy. Excited to meet her." 

Mei smiled. "And how is she?" It was always she now, had been since the sex had been confirmed. Mei knew things could still go wrong, though rarely at this point so late in, and maybe that was why they hadn't settled on a name. Or maybe it was to see which one of the many they had discussed best fit their daughter's face. Either way, she was unnamed and definitely no longer an it. They knew she was still technically a foetus, not yet outside and separate to Yuzu, and Mei strongly believed in a woman's right to choose but they had chosen to think of this as a person long ago. It's amazing the emotional effect a choice can have, even the choice of words. 

"She's good. Active as ever. Hopefully going to decide to come out soon! Oh, she's kicking again, come on, feel her!"

She put her hand to the spot her wife had indicated, feeling their unborn daughter nudge it for what must be the hundredth time but that was a magic sensation that never got old. I can't wait to meet you, little one. I would do anything for you.

It seemed so recently that they'd finally sat down and made the decision to try for a baby together. Yuzu had been desperate for it, and it felt like their lives had the stability they wanted at last. After talking through the options, they had confirmed they wanted, though Mei knew as well as most that parenthood was about more than childbearing and genetics, a baby that they could both feel was a part of them. So Mei had donated the egg, and Yuzu was to be the nest. It had cost money, true, but money was something their family had, and as soon as they had mentioned this possibility it had seemed like the right choice. 

As for the "father", they had no idea. They'd picked an anonymous donor whose resume seemed impressive. Medical school, etc. If their daughter wanted to find him later in life, that was ok, but he wasn't the father in their eyes, not really. 

The hardest bit at the beginning was waiting to see if they'd been successful. The second hardest bit had been working out how to go about the "conception". Given that the actual act was a medical procedure, unlike the traditional method of having sex at an auspicious time and repeating until you found one of your attempts had worked, they wanted to inject some romance into it, to connect it to the physical as well rather than just being a scientific intervention. 

Initially the 5-star, aphrodisiac-laden meal they had shared out, and the last alcohol either had drunk (just a little wine) since then, had felt a touch forced and awkward, but Yuzu's joking about it coaxed a sense of fun into the occasion and they just talked and thought about what it would be like to have a third life in their lives (fourth including the cat) and remembered how much they loved each other. 

Mei had no idea if it was the wine they were slightly drunk on, or the excitement for the future, the lust from their oysters and spices and chocolate or just the manifestation of thinking about and expressing their love, but things had been far from awkward later on their conception night, actually the evening before the procedure itself. It had possibly been the most passionate they had ever shared, and she could still remember vivid snapshots: the taste of tongue-warming spice added to Yuzu's usual distinctive nectar; the feel of her dripping as she sat on Mei's stomach, and the clenching of her around the fingers Mei plunged inside; the animal smell of every type of excitement whilst Yuzu writhed and begged her to stop teasing; the sight of her wrapped in a ribbon, hands together, as she knelt facing down, arse in the air and legs apart and inviting; and the scream that she was coming, that Mei was filling her up and filling her with their baby as she speared into her with a silicone phallus, Mei overcome with excitement and coming at the same time just as though she were a man impregnating her. Neither had been surprised that the implantation had been a success after that. 

Just thinking about it was enough to give her a warm flush, tingling throughout her, a reflection and reconstruction of arousal but also deeper affection. The fountain of Mei's love was something unexpected that ten years ago she would have dismissed as presumptive and overly sentimental had someone suggested it was buried within her, but knowing and loving Yuzu had opened it within her and she was shocked to discover there seemed to be no limit to its depth. Enough that an almost infinite stream beneath her restrained surface was now bifurcated into two equal, somehow undiminished, tributaries. She would give her wife and baby all the love in the world, and she felt the immediate, undeniable need to demonstrate it with deeds. 

"I can take care of those aching muscles, Yuzu." For some reason that sounded almost shy from her lips, but she didn't feel shy, not at all. This was the most natural thing in the entire world. 

Yuzu gasped. "Oh, please do. Really, it's my least favourite part about the whole thing. That and the fact that I look like a narwhal now."

"Don't say that. I'm the better judge of how you look, after all, and you know I think you remain enthrallingly beautiful." Before Yuzu could protest again and compare herself, as she had despite Mei's truthful insistence that she found her as attractive as ever, to a porpoise or walrus or some other blubber covered marine mammal, Mei pulled her socks off and got to work, kneading firmly into stiff, knotted feet.

Gratifyingly Yuzu gave an immediate moan of painful pleasure, close enough to their bed-language to send a shiver through Mei and a burst of wetness between her legs, and shut up, the instinctual, growing sounds leaving no room for self-piteous remonstrations about her body. 

If anything it's just emphasised her features, lush like Aphrodite. Mei had never been obsessed with breasts and curves, had never thought very much at all about other people's looks and bodies to be honest until Yuzu had captured her heart and interest and eyes, but she had come to enjoy Yuzu's very much and discovered that increasingly she appreciated the aesthetic and the feel of them. The discovery that she found anyone truly attractive, nevermind a girl, nevermind her half-sister (those points seemed almost incidental compared to the first discovery) was the biggest shock of all in a way, and Yuzu needn't ever worry about her straying - she acknowledged prettiness in other girls but Yuzu was the only person she had ever had the slightest twinge of genuine attraction to, the only person that sexual contact could ever be anything other than a mind-numbing drug. So loving Yuzu was a constant education in what she actually found appealing. She had liked those firm breasts and trim figure, definitely, but she had discovered that the same beautiful Yuzu with milk-swollen larger ones and a perfectly formed pregnant tummy stirred her loins even more. 

And watching her sex goddess, her epitome of fertility, moan and strain under her probing touch, it was driving her wild. 

She had worked the firmness and knots out of Yuzu's feet now, and worked upwards, pressing into tight calves and tense thighs, the entire time aware that she was getting very worked up herself. Quickly she had moved to the teak of her stiff back and tight-sprung shoulders, working out tensions with rubbing and circling, using fingers then fists then knuckles, now barely in control as Yuzu basically collapsed under her touch, now lying prone. Yuzu's noises were almost animal now, and knowing her wife would stop her if she didn't want to go further, Mei unclasped her bra and started to remove her blouse. 

Her wife didn't not stop her, urgently shifting to help the top and bra leave her body then groaning again as the massage continued on her bare skin. With little hesitation, Mei slipped her bottoms off too, now working on her beautiful rump, feeling the knots in there too, sometimes pressing hard enough to cause a longer groan and grimace, but increasingly aware of the lingering scent that meant Yuzu was as into this as she was. 

The destination was beyond doubt now, and Mei sat her love up, taking in those glorious globes that had grown to feed their child soon. She took off her own top, and enjoyed the movement of Yuzu's glazed eyes down to her own assets. Then, taking charge, she pulled down Yuzu's underwear. 

They were centered with an obvious dark, damp patch and Yuzu parted her legs expectantly. Too soon: first Mei tended to her breasts, gently kissing and cupping them and playing her tongue over the tips. She could suckle now and she knew a bit of mother's milk would enter her mouth - Yuzu had demonstrated earlier that week that she could squeeze milk from her breasts - but she didn't really have any desire to sexualise their baby's food supply. Instead she dropped between her parted thighs and drank from her own personal source. Her body felt on fire as Yuzu cried out loud and begged for her tongue. She was as wet as Mei could remember, fragrant and hot and sexy in her need. She gave a single delicious lick before building more suspense, kissing the bump then her thighs with her fingers tantalising close to Yuzu's entrance. "I need you..." That was true but incomplete, the rest of her sentence punctuated with another half-kiss half-bite to Yuzu's leg. "To understand…" Kiss "How sexy I find you…" Again "How much I want you…"

She sat on Yuzu's lap, letting her own wet folds rub obscenely against their child's round shelter. She put Yuzu's hand down to her swollen clitoris and dripping hole. "This is what I think about you. I'm so aroused by you, like this, like that, however you look. I find your pregnant body so attractive. Feel me…" Yuzu's eyes were pure pupil as she slipped inside her, the indisputable evidence of Mei's desire for her clearly making her feel gorgeous and hornier than ever. It would have been so easy to let Yuzu rub her to a rapid climax now, and that would come later, but first she wanted to finish destressing her wife's beautiful body. She slipped back to the floor and immediately engulfed Yuzu's tender bud with her whole mouth, ravaging it to loud squeals, then devoured her inside out, relishing each mouthful of ambrosic honey and each peri-orgasmic grunt and cry until every ounce of tension left Yuzu in a shuddering, squirting, enormous eruption, leaving her lax and floppy and Mei leaning, satisfied and happy, on her lap.

Eventually Yuzu stirred and cracked open an eyelid. 

"Oh god. That was… incredible…"

Mei stared into her eyes and internally grinned as she kept her expression deadpan and watched Yuzu almost faint and come again at once as she uttered. "That's only half the full body session. We are going upstairs now to find a position that you can comfortably take my plastic cock as I screw you until your hormones wake our daughter up and I have to drive your sex-scented, gorgeous body to hospital for her arrival."

She grabbed her wife's hand and took her upstairs, as giddy as newly weds. 


	3. Chapter 3

“Oh, god… Mei, I… I’m struggling to hold on!”

Nothing made Mei feel more alive, more in control of her life in a good way, than hearing her wife moaning and begging her, the feeling of holding someone’s entire trust and knowing they were right to do so. To start with their power dynamic, of soft submission and quasi-dominance, Mei always holding the reins, had been something they had both needed, a characteristically thoughtful realisation of Yuzu’s. She had realised that, given her own naivety and inexperience and the nature of Mei’s experiences, it would be healthy for both of them. 

Now Mei was as healed as she could imagine being, more secure in life and love than she could possibly have hoped for as a person with very little hope in those darker days. Yuzu could hardly call herself an ingénue anymore either. Sometimes they did swap roles. But they had discovered that these roles called out to a small part of them, fulfilled something deeper than transient needs. Mei’s control fulfilled Yuzu, calmed her constant need to act, and strengthened Mei. And seeing the utter trust her wife placed in her, the knowledge that Mei would never hurt her or push too far, or patronise her with “paper gloves” that she could see in Yuzu’s face and hear in her voice when they did this, it made Mei know she was utterly loved at a level even the most fragile ego, the most damaged person could never doubt. 

Technically Yuzu knew she shouldn’t ask Mei for release or ask for more, as the other girl knew she could trust Mei to be good to her and read her, but this honest feedback was fair game and vital to making sure this worked. Communication - Mei with clear commands, Yuzu without begging unless told to but making her body’s limits clear too. It always worked. That and they had learnt to say more with their eyes in the bedroom than Mei had thought possible.

Right now her wife’s fairy-green eyes were facing the other way as Mei, having taken Yuzu right up to the edge with her hands and mouth, telling her she could not come until commanded, drove in and out of Yuzu who quivered on her hands and knees.

They had both been worried about this side of things when they had made the decision to have a baby together. Mei was worried that sex would be too much, too demanding on Yuzu in her vulnerable state. Yuzu, that Mei wouldn't want to, finding her unattractive as her baby made her bigger and bigger. It had been an unspoken but blessed relief that neither concern could be further from the truth. 

They'd had to adapt as Yuzu developed aches in places and sensitivities in others, and certain positions became impossible or impractical. But Yuzu was hungry for sex, for some reason her body more aroused and libidinous than ever before, and with the right preparation and forethought she could take just as much from Mei as usually. Mei too found Yuzu more attractive than ever, her beautiful face aglow and happy with the knowledge that their life together was going to contain another and her body now full of ripe curves for Mei to hold from breasts that had swollen in size to a more filled out bottom and the strangely irresistible swell of her bump. 

The less obvious changes drove Mei pleasantly wild too, from the ease with which she now whimpered and moaned under her touch to subtle changes to her delicious flavour and scent. They had been intimate almost daily of late, and as the baby's due date had just passed a few days ago, they even had medical advice to make love. To "release oxytocin", their doctor said, which could help induce labour. Oxytocin was "the love hormone", and Mei wasn't sure they needed any help producing more of that but if it couldn't hurt the baby and they both wanted to, she couldn't see how more sex would be a bad thing. 

"Ok Yuzu-blossom. You can let go now. Come for me."

  
  


Coming to her crescendo, Yuzu quivered silently, every speck of the tension in her legs and torso melting into floppy bliss in an instant, and collapsed in a heap, giving one final wordless, visceral groan of satisfaction.

And then another, more urgent one. 

Immediately, still wearing the thick toy that she'd used to pleasure her wife, Mei was by her side, concern rushing through her veins. 

"Yuzu! What's wrong my love?" 

Her face was screwed up with intense discomfort. “Ah! I think… we’re having the baby… now!”

Mei started to panic. _Now?_

She felt her chest tighten and her vision narrow, before suddenly that crescendo of anxiety vanished. _No, wait. My Yuzu, who always puts her trust in me and has faith in my ability to take charge, needs me. I can stay calm in a hundred scenarios where I hold responsibility. I can stay calm in this one for the sake of my wife and my child._

“Ok Yuzu. Take deep breaths. I’m going to call the hospital and prepare them and then grab one of the overnight bags we have prepared. I need you to start timing the contractions on that phone app if you can - I’ll take over after I sort those things out, and I’ll text then call Ume to take us to the hospital.” She delivered that plan with utter surety, not letting a hint of her previous stress slip through to frighten her little Yuzu. In some things, Yuzu was the strong one, but in this situation, as in any where someone had to take control or organise, it was up to Mei to be strong. 

Quickly, they established that the contractions were still several minutes apart and they still had time to get to the hospital without undue concern. Ume arrived to take them, Mei now by her wife's side, stroking her hair and squeezing her hand. 

Yuzu was looking discomforted, and grimaced with each surge through her tightening womb, but seemed in good spirits. "I'm so glad you're both here! We'll meet the baby at last, and this isn't so bad. I can handle this!"

The pain, Mei gathered later on, didn't stay quite as manageable throughout although Yuzu coped admirably right up to the end when it roared with a seemingly insatiable fury and brought them both to tears. The real difficulty, even more than that late crescendo, Yuzu revealed once it was all over, was the relentlessness of it. The way it returned without any rest every 10 minutes then 5 and so on, until just preparing for it stole away the peace of the pain-free moments and it became exhausting. 

Mei didn’t understand this at the time, just that Yuzu’s tenacity was being drained away and several hours in, after being prodded and poked, examined vaginally by several different people, strapped to a machine that checked the baby’s heartbeat, moved through several rooms and then, as she became fiery with fever (Mei knew that in the old days infection in childbirth was terrifyingly lethal, but had reassured herself during her long research periods during the pregnancy that this had greatly improved), pricked in the arm for blood tests and a “cannula” to give fluid and antibiotics onto her veins, she was being worn down. Each pain and indignity she suffered was one Mei also felt shadowed on her heart, aware she was the lucky one but still feeling stressed at the lack of control and the experience one she loved was enduring. She winced with the needle, and came to the edge of crying when Yuzu occasionally cried in pain at a more vicious contraction. The one thing that kept them both going was the assurance that their child was doing well on all her monitoring. She was just taking her time “probably because it’s the first baby”.

Mei stayed by her side the entire time, except when she took turns with their mother to fetch sports drinks and snacks on request and cool sponges to mop her brow. At least one night fell and rose again. A seemingly unquantifiable, sleep-deprived time later, everything moving in a blur and slow motion all at once, Yuzu was fully dilated and her contractions more brutal and more frequent. Nonetheless, having survived up to this point, Yuzu, her strong, brave Yuzu, found a new reserve of fight and took it in her stride, saying she was more used to the harder contractions now. Mei was proud as she held her wife’s hand, letting her squeeze it as a push came, urging her on. Yuzu followed every one of the midwife’s instructions, not shouting, pushing through her pelvis and bottom, never stopping, breathing between. She did everything perfectly, but their daughter still seemed reluctant to leave her warm shelter and join the harsh world outside, such that they called for the doctor who arrived and was preparing to help things along with some tools when suddenly, with a howl of agony, one that made Mei cry rare tears and sob with helplessness at the sight of her beloved’s pain, Yuzu started to struggle.

Their daughter was near on her way, and the pain she was putting Yuzu through minnowed that which had come before. But finally, after agonising minutes of Yuzu crinkling her entire face with effort, eyes squeezed shut as she grunted with the entire room urging her on, a beautiful, miraculous sight emerged. 

The baby was born.

But she didn't cry.

_What's going on?! Something's wrong._

Mei felt the world stop and her heart freeze as she watched the midwife and doctor, firstly calmly then with growing tension on their faces, handle the babe and rub her with towels. Still no sound, after what Mei was told was a minute. She had no idea, time wasn't a thing any more. Her baby, Yuzu's baby, their little blossom, she wasn't crying, she wasn't breathing…

"Mei, what's wrong? Why won't she cry? Why are they taking her? Oh!" Suddenly, Yuzu, panic in her eyes, clenched her teeth and groaned, as the trickle of blood following their child turned into a stream rather than drying up. 

One of the midwives put her hand to Yuzu's head as another bundled the still silent baby to a machine in the corner, and an alarm went off in the background. "She's burning up. And haemorrhaging. Someone get the senior obstetrician, and do some observations."

And Mei's world fell apart, watched from the outside as she felt her mind step away from her body for a minute.

Her baby was tinged blue, now in the hands of several people who were placing some sort of facemask on her. Ume was pale and sat on a chair, her eyes terrified. Yuzu was being assessed by several doctors, one between her legs trying to stymie the flow of blood, and staff taking her temperature and blood pressure. Someone attached medicine to her arm. The sounds were muted. 

She couldn't believe how quickly things had deteriorated, both the loves of her life, the two girls she needed and would die for, dying around her whilst she stood helpless and **useless**.

Suddenly a cry, angry and vigorous cut through. The baby. 

She was still in the care of the staff but was kicking and screaming, blessedly alive, and it brought Mei to life. 

In an instant she was by Yuzu's side. "It's ok, Yuzu, she's breathing. The doctors are looking after her, and after you too. You're bleeding. But I have faith in them." She turned to the lady next to her, a doctor or midwife, she wasn't sure and didn't care. She was here to save Mei's wife and child and she knew better than Mei what was necessary.

"How can I help?"

***

Some unclear time later, where Mei kept her Yuzu conscious and talked her through the antibiotics and blood the doctors were pouring into her and promised her their daughter was ok, just, as the neonatologist had told her from the heater-machine, but needed some help to breathe and then some time and antibiotics in their baby unit, things stabilised. Yuzu was wheeled to theatre to check for the source of her bleeding and to be ready to operate if that was needed to stop it. Mei kissed her as they pushed her bed out. They had both watched the tiny, fragile child they had nurtured together taken in an incubator, like an exhibit in a zoo, her humanity somehow diminished and accentuated all at once, to some secret "unit" minutes before, tears in their eyes. Mei could visit later but had been asked to hold back whilst they did the tests and gave the oxygen and antibiotics she needed. 

For now, she was alone. The lights of her life in the hands of others. 

The moment flown past, she collapsed into Ume's arms and wept with relieved terror.

_Oh, God. Yuzu... I'm struggling... to hold... on._


End file.
